System and method for providing advertising-on-demand

Abstract

A TV advertisement server (TA server) and method of providing advertising-on-demand includes a TV, a set-top-box (STB) connected with the TV, and connected with the STB. When the STB sends a request to download a TA list, the TA server sends the TA list to the STB for a user selecting one or more desired TV advertisements. The TA server may generate a new TA list according to the selection and acquire the selected TV advertisements from a storage device. The acquired TV advertisements may be transmitted to the STB and broadcasted on the TV.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for providing advertising-on-demand utilizing a set-top-box (STB) connected with a TV advertisement (TA) server, the method comprising:
 receiving a download request from the STB to download a TA list;   sending the TA list to the STB, the TA list comprising serial numbers of TV channels of the TV and serial numbers of TV advertisements of each of the TV channels;   generating a new TA list by selecting one or more desired TV advertisements from the TA list, the new TA list comprising serial numbers of the desired TV advertisements and serial numbers of corresponding TV channels of the desired TV advertisements;   acquiring the desired TV advertisements from a storage device of the TA server; and   transmitting the acquired TV advertisements to the STB which broadcasts the acquired TV advertisements on the TV.   
     
     
         2 . The method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising setting a serial number for each of the TV advertisements and setting a serial number for each of the TV channels. 
     
     
         3 . The method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 updating the TA list upon a condition that any of the TV advertisements is deleted from the storage device; or   updating the TA list upon a condition that a new TV advertisement is added to the storage device.   
     
     
         4 . The method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 calculating a total number of viewings of each of the TV advertisements; and   computing an audience rating for each of the TV advertisements.   
     
     
         5 . A storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor of a television advertisement (TA) server, cause the TA server to perform a method of providing advertising-on-demand, the method comprising:
 receiving a download request from a set-top-box (STB) to download a TA list;   sending the TA list to the STB, the TA list comprising serial numbers of TV channels of the TV and serial numbers of TV advertisements of each of the TV channels;   generating a new TA list by selecting one or more desired TV advertisements from the TA list, the new TA list comprising serial numbers of the desired TV advertisements and serial numbers of corresponding TV channels of the desired TV advertisements;   acquiring the desired TV advertisements from a storage device of the TA server; and   transmitting the acquired TV advertisements to the STB which broadcasts the acquired TV advertisements on the TV.   
     
     
         6 . The storage medium as described in  claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises setting a serial number for each of the TV advertisements and setting a serial number for each of the TV channels. 
     
     
         7 . The storage medium as described in  claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises:
 updating the TA list upon a condition that any of the TV advertisements is deleted from the storage device; or   updating the TA list upon a condition that a new TV advertisement is added to the storage device.   
     
     
         8 . The storage medium as described in  claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises:
 calculating a total number of viewings of each of the TV advertisements; and   computing an audience rating for each of the TV advertisements.   
     
     
         9 . A TV advertisement (TA) server for providing advertising-on-demand utilizing a set-top-box (STB) connected with the TA server, the TA server comprising:
 a storage device operable to store TV advertisements and a TA list, each of the TV advertisements comprising a serial number, the TA list comprising serial numbers of TV channels of the TV and serial numbers of the TV advertisements of each of the TV channels; and   a management module operable to send the TA list to the STB in response to a download request to download the TA list, generate a new TA list by selecting one or more desired TV advertisements from the TA list, acquire the desired TV advertisements from the storage device, and transmit the acquired TV advertisements to the STB which broadcasts the acquired TV advertisements on the TV, wherein the new TA list comprises serial numbers of the desired TV advertisements and serial numbers of corresponding TV channels of the desired TV advertisements.   
     
     
         10 . The TA server m as described in  claim 9 , wherein the management module is further operable to set a serial number for each of the TV advertisement and a serial number for each of the TV channels. 
     
     
         11 . The TA server as described in  claim 10 , wherein the management module is further operable to update the TA list when any of the TV advertisements is deleted from the storage device, or a new TV advertisement is added to the storage device. 
     
     
         12 . The TA server as described in  claim 9 , wherein the TA server further comprises a computation module operable to calculate a total number of viewings of each of the TV advertisements, and compute an audience rating for each of the TV advertisements.